Memorable cinema experiences

[Idris2002]

I still remember seeing Force Ten from Navarone with my dad and grandad in the old cinema in Bandon.

 

[Part 2]

Queuing outside The Odeon in York to see Herbie Goes Bananas. There was a KFC close by and the rumour of the time was that a woman had bought some chicken and eaten it in the cinema....but on leaving she discovered she'd been eating a fried rat!

The Aaben in Hulme Good Friday, probably 1989, tripping watching Honey I shrunk The Kids, then out to play in the adventure playground.

My first ever cinema experience on my own. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Small screen at The Cornerhouse. Audience consisted of grubby looking men in big coats carrying shopping bags.

Most exciting recent film I've seen at the pictures was Uncut Gems. The tension was amazing. Felt like everyone was completely into it.

 

[T & P]

seeing Jurassic Park in a full house cinema, the half term weekend it came out, full of kids, they absolutely loved it - like a 2 hour roller coaster ride

I nearly posted pretty much what you’ve said One of the few perks of being neatly in your 50s is that we got to experience some of the greatest and most iconic films of all time first hand as they first opened.

Hell, I have very few memories of my early years as you would expect, but one of them is queuing up aged five with my parents to watch a brand new space opera film called Star Wars that had taken the world by storm.

 

[albionism]

One of my first visits here you could still smoke so remember being impressed by the illuminated low lying cloud layer as I struggled to follow the dialogue.

I remember being dragged along to see Rocky 4 I think it was, the one with Ivan Drago,
and the back row was occupied by a group of lads who were flicking their finished cigarettes
down onto the cinema goers below them, causing panic and chaos. I also got hit on the back
of the head by a whole toffee apple thrown at great velocity by one of the said bellends at the back.

 

[Raheem]

The whole room (including me) laughing hysterically at someone being fatally shot in the head in Pulp Fiction.

 

[krtek a houby]

Probably mentioned before, but the first time going to the pictures in Japan. Couldn't get over it; the comfy seats, audiences staying for the credits, and no messing about/talking. In fact, almost complete silence.

It's great, relaxing and cheap but... do miss the audience involvement. There's almost no applause, cheering, laughter etc. Kind of takes away from the communal experience. And as for the chap who grassed us up for eating during the commericals at the start

 

[ruffneck23]

And of course watching Star Wars at Guildford odeon in 1978. I was 7 , I can still remember standing in the queue eating Golden Wonder ' Sausage and tomato ' crisps ( do they still make them? ) wearing a paper stormtrooper mask, blew me away. I only went because my brother was ill and couldnt go.

Also watching Rocky 4 , same cinema on a Saturday afternoon and the whole cinema was cheering during the final fight with Drago ( v.v. sad I know.)

 

[A380]

Probably mentioned before, but the first time going to the pictures in Japan. Couldn't get over it; the comfy seats, audiences staying for the credits, and no messing about/talking. In fact, almost complete silence.

It's great, relaxing and cheap but... do miss the audience involvement. There's almost no applause, cheering, laughter etc. Kind of takes away from the communal experience. And as for the chap who grassed us up for eating during the commericals at the start

Sounds my kind of cinema.

 

[A380]

Hmm. Isn't it? Big dark room, lady with a torch showing you to your seats, the rustle of sweet wrappers, adverts for Westlers Hot Dogs (get one in the foyer), half time break, cornettos from the usherette, peanuts for the older people, sticky floors, hmm, marvellous.

View attachment 327588

You missed out a snog and a fumble with Justine Thompson in the back row.

 

[krtek a houby]

Sounds my kind of cinema.

Apart from being grassed up

 

[Pickman's model]

I remember being dragged along to see Rocky 4 I think it was, the one with Ivan Drago,
and the back row was occupied by a group of lads who were flicking their finished cigarettes
down onto the cinema goers below them, causing panic and chaos. I also got hit on the back
of the head by a whole toffee apple thrown at great velocity by one of the said bellends at the back.

for some reason which i can't now fathom i went with a friend to see three men and a baby one afternoon many years ago at barnet odeon. for reasons i cannot now recall i'd bought some prawns at the sea food kiosk outside. there were some girls in the cinema throwing sweets about, and one hit me so i slung back a barrage of prawns. one evidently hit a target as there was a screech of 'i've been hit by a fish!'. cue great consternation in the cinema and we beat a hasty retreat

 

[krtek a houby]

for some reason which i can't now fathom i went with a friend to see three men and a baby one afternoon many years ago at barnet odeon. for reasons i cannot now recall i'd bought some prawns at the sea food kiosk outside. there were some girls in the cinema throwing sweets about, and one hit me so i slung back a barrage of prawns. one evidently hit a target as there was a screech of 'i've been hit by a fish!'. cue great consternation in the cinema and we beat a hasty retreat

They all lived happily ever after, in case you missed the ending

 

[Pickman's model]

They all lived happily ever after, in case you missed the ending

there's a couple of films i've gone to which i've never subsequently understood what prompted me to go, one being three men and a baby and the other being out of africa

 

[ska invita]

only film ive walked out on

fell asleep during first two starwars prequels (phantom storyline and clone bores)

 

[DotCommunist]

I remember watching starship troopers when it came out, I was an unsophisticated 15 year old so the fascism thing passed me completely by but my eyes popped out on stalks for the unisex shower scene. I later in life learn that Verhoeven also put a unisex shower scene in Robocop because he feels that in the future everyone will just shower together. I disagree.

 

[A380]

I was in the Barnet Odeon once and I got hit by a prawn.

 

[Yossarian]

"They throw a sweet, you throw a prawn. They hit you with popcorn, you hit them with a lobster."

 

[A380]

I watched the amazingly crap Sweeny (Ray Winston)* in the ciniworld Leicester Square one afternoon. The final shootout scene is in Trafalgar Square and it was a bit odd to be walking through there 5 minutes after seeing it on the screen.

(* Its a mystery about how they could make it quite so completely rubbish. I don't think it had a single redeeming feature - well perhaps the car chase in the mobile home site that Top Gear did for them. )

 

[A380]

I nearly posted pretty much what you’ve said One of the few perks of being neatly in your 50s is that we got to experience some of the greatest and most iconic films of all time first hand as they first opened.

Hell, I have very few memories of my early years as you would expect, but one of them is queuing up aged five with my parents to watch a brand new space opera film called Star Wars that had taken the world by storm.

I saw Casablanca once on the big screen at the Prince Charles. Once you got used to the format it was weird how well something I had pegged as a TV thing worked in the cinema.

 

[D'wards]

Anyone recall Cinema Day (I think it was called).
Where all films cost a nicker to see.

Me and me pals used to take advantage and we once saw several films in a day, criss crossing London as we went, stopping for refreshments as we went.

I recall we saw Crash and Fifth Element but I can't remember what else.

They should bring back Cinema day

 

[DotCommunist]

Anyone recall Cinema Day (I think it was called).
Where all films cost a nicker to see.

Me and me pals used to take advantage and we once saw several films in a day, criss crossing London as we went, stopping for refreshments as we went.

I recall we saw Crash and Fifth Element but I can't remember what else.

They should bring back Cinema day

was it Orange Wednesdays? I always used to wonder what they called that in NI and ROI

 

[Idris2002]

for some reason which i can't now fathom i went with a friend to see three men and a baby one afternoon many years ago at barnet odeon. for reasons i cannot now recall i'd bought some prawns at the sea food kiosk outside. there were some girls in the cinema throwing sweets about, and one hit me so i slung back a barrage of prawns. one evidently hit a target as there was a screech of 'i've been hit by a fish!'. cue great consternation in the cinema and we beat a hasty retreat

It could only happen to Pickman's Model.

 

[D'wards]

was it Orange Wednesdays? I always used to wonder what they called that in NI and ROI

Nah, it was like one day a year. Normally a Sunday I think

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

if you never seen jurassic park in the the cinema


you never really seen the movie regardless of how big the telly or how good the sounds is....

I really noticed the sou d design when I saw it in the cinema. They used the surround sound to do rustling noises at the back and side during the 'clever girl' scene and other raptor stalking bits.

Really added to the mood.

 

[Yossarian]

I think my most memorable cinema experience during the late '00s 3D craze was Final Destination 4, which depicted, in 3D, the gruesome deaths of an audience watching a 3D film.

 

[Sweet FA]

The locals (and I‘ve since been told it’s a common trait in other countries in the region as well) apparently think nothing of talking throughout the film at normal volume levels, as if you were watching a film you didn’t care that much about with some friends in your living room. You can still hear the film’s dialogue, but wtf.

I saw The Beach in South Korea & very similar. The seats were like those in a football stadium - plastic fold down jobs - and families brought entire meals with them. The whole film was the constant sound of plastic chairs banging as people stood up to pass bowls of food around; loud talking and laughing throughout; kids playing etc. They didn't even put the lights down very much. I guess most didn't need the dialogue as it was subbed but come on.

On Utila - island off Honduras - the cinema was above a bar. It had room for about 50 people in and was hotter than the sun. I saw Scream and everyone laughed, chatted and talked through it there too. Plus loads of actual screaming obviously. Was a good experience though - beer and spliffs being passed around.

Memorable UK cinema:

queuing round the block in the West End to see King Kong in 1976 for my 8th birthday - don't remember the film but loved being out late at night in London. (Birthday in January so it was probably not late at all, just dark)

Saturday morning cinema @ the ABC in Basildon - utter carnage. Hundreds of sugar crazed children running around. There was also a lot of singing - the ABC Minors song obviously but also for some reason, they used to play The Monster Mash and everyone would go nuts. They'd get kids down the front to do their best dancing.

Can't remember the exact location (Turnham Green/Chiswick maybe?) but there was a big rock pub across the green from a cinema. I saw Bill & Ted there with loads of pissed people from the pub. It was the last time I was in a cinema where pretty much everyone was smoking weed.

The ABC in Basildon where I saw most of the films of my youth, including Star Wars. (The Painted Wagon Saloon was such a den of violence and iniquity that it was generally closed at the weekend. It later changed its name to The Jolly Waggoner to cheer the place up. It didn't work.)

 

[Indeliblelink]

Early 90s, a double feature of Jacob's Ladder & Angel Heart at The Rio in Dalston, when you could get away with skinning up and smoking a joint in there. We thought we were very cool & rebellious at the time.

Went to re-watch Spielberg's Jaws at Brighton Marina a few years ago, it was afternoon on blisteringly hot day & I went and sat on the beach afterwards watching everyone splashing about in the water feeling like I'd just walked onto the ,movie set.

Carry On Up The Khyber at a Carry On convention at the Barbican. Fantastic fun.

 

[AverageJoe]

Watched the first Jackass movie in Australia in a bar/cinema.

Watching 150 odd Australians necking beer and watching Jackass was a most enjoyable experience.

 

[MBV]

Saw Edward Scissors hands and during the relevant scenes the cinema paused the film and gave out small food samples that matched the scene.

 

[surreybrowncap]

Saw Edward Scissors hands and during the relevant scenes the cinema paused the film and gave out small food samples that matched the scene.

Did they give you all scissor hands as well...?